As the dust has finally settled after the large scale operation in Tokol, Hungary this past weekend, it’s time to do a recap of what went down with Round 5 of the Monster Energy King of Europe Drift ProSeries.
Tokol has been an important stop for King of Europe for many years now, and even though other venues have been selected for holding events under the KoE banner in the past, Tokol remains a favorite in the books of drivers and fans both alike, thanks to the numerous possibilities in configuring the track layout, the large surface available for the event itself, the actual location which is close to nearby countries like Austria, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania and Ukraine, and last but not least the overall feeling that you get by stepping into the ex-Soviet airport.
With Rounds 6 and 7 in Spain already announced to take place in the same weekend in Valencia, and with Slovakia using a double-points system for the end of the season, drivers knew that Tokol would be an important strategic step towards getting closer to the title of 2015 Monster Energy King of Europe Drift ProSeries Champions.
With Round 3 of the King of Europe Street Legal and the Queen of Europe Series being scheduled at the same type, in the same location, the paddock area quickly started getting occupied Friday afternoon, as drivers pulled in for the technical inspection, and for setting up their own zone.
In the ProSeries alone, there were drivers on site from 16 different countries and 3 different continents, once again showing the international appeal of the series, and the growth and success it is enjoying this year and for future years to come. Drift Zamurai and Toni Arakaki flew all the way over from Japan to take part in the race, and while Drift Zamurai would drive the Federal Tyres King of Europe Nissan S15, Toni would be behind the wheel of the Myway Drift School BMW E46.
Also driving cars from the Myway Drift School fleet were drivers Stewy Briant from Australia, Kaysie Woods from Malta, 13 years old Stavros Grillis from Greece and French superstar Nicolas Delorme. The Italian side of the paddock was quite well represented for the weekend, even though Massimo Checchin could not finish his Subaru engine in time for the race.
Francesco Conti made his 2015 ProSeries debut behind the wheel of his brand new Nissan RPS13, Amerigo Monteverde brought his son as well for the event, and Manuel Vacca and Pierpaolo Gurin were also onsite with their BMW 3 series. Although he was not the only driver from Austria competing in Tokol, Markus Pamper was the only one to take part in the ProSeries, as Clemens Kauderer had signed up just for the StreetLegal event. Patrick Ritzmann also did not manage to fix his car in time for Tokol, but his team mate Markus Muller made the drive over from Germany, as did Alex and Corinna Graff. Aleksandr Grinchuk from Ukraine, also back after a succesful race weekend in Odessa, where he got a podium finish in his national series. Bulgarian Ivan Demirev was also out for his first ProSeries race of the year, in the same turbocharged BMW E30 he’s been driving for a few years now. Of course, all the regular series drivers were present as well, amongst a sea of top level Hungarian drivers, eager to show off their skills in front of the home crowd.
It was decided that the track layout for the weekend would be a completely different one from was what used in 2014, to give everyone equal chances in regards to track knowledge. Qualifying came just after Saturday practice, and for some drivers things did not turn out as well as they would have expected. Adam Frank suffered an engine failure early Friday morning, leaving him with just one option: that of driving a Myway Drift School car, which has 300 horsepower. Although not in the ProSeries, Danielly Murphy suffered the same fate, although she managed to borrow the Hazardous Drift Crew E36, rated at about 400 horsepower. Due to personal problems, Rene Alexander could not compete in the qualifying session, thus excluding him from the race all in all. Steve Biaggioni suffered mechanical trouble in both of his runs, leaving him unable to show the full extent of his driving skills, and eventually leaving him out of the Top32. Matt Campling also had to retire from the race due to engine problems, while Zoltan Marton went into his session with serious car problems, which meant a very disappointing score for him, but still enough to allow him to drive on Sunday. Drift Zamurai was also facing troubles of his own as the Nissan S15 he was driving was not working properly. Even though he got another car for his second qualifying run, the same BMW Toni Arakaki was using, he could not get to grips with the car fast enough to see him qualify for the Top32.
By the end of the day, Amerigo Monteverde took P1 in the qualifying session, with a total of 94.82 points. Local Hungarian driver Szilveszter came in 2nd place, just 0.81 points behind. Adam Kerenyi and Smideliusz Balint both got very similar results, as they were down in 3rd and 4th place overall. Nicolas Delorme was probably, along with Cristiano Monteverde, the most surprising appearance in the Top10, as this was his first race behind the wheel of the Myway Drift School E46, and he was already handling it like it wasn’t a big deal for him. Arpad Enekes, with a revised version of his Ford Mustang, now featuring Antilag put on a very good performance in qualifying, enough to earn him 6th, just slightly ahead of Calin Ciortan. Closing the Top10 rankings were Alois Pamper from Austria in 9th and Norbert Kovacik from Slovakia in 10th. Driving a 300 horsepower Myway Drift School car, Adam Frank stil managed to get 13th place, while Francesco Conti was down in 18th. Amerigo Monteverde has always shown that he is a very capable driver in the past few years spent in King of Europe. So it came as no surprise that he won his first battle of the weekend against Kaysie Wood, who was also driving one of the Myway Drift School cars. Karolina Pilarczyk was definitely having a good time, after taking 2nd place in both Queen of Europe and King of Europe Street Legal, she proceeded to eliminate Markus Muller from the Top32. A battle of drivers who will represent the future generation of drifting, Cristiano Monteverde versus Grillis Stavros,was up next. Even though Stavros was doing the best he could in his rental car, taking up a LS powered Nissan S14 is no easy task, and Monteverde’s son was advancing to the Top16. Eddy Laissue could not match up to the speed of Alois Pamper and his Supercharged M3 E36, and so the Austrian driver would take the win. Balint Smideliusz had a quick, easy victory against Italian Pierpaolo Gurin, who was in Tokol for his first ever King of Europe race. Adam Frank did
his best to keep up with Zango Zsoltan in their battles, but ultimately the judges decided in favor of the Hungarian driver, after a series of very intense fought runs.
Nobody expected Nicolas Delorme to be knocked out so early in the game, but apparently Alex Graff had serious lans for the weekend, and their battle was over after just two runs. Stewy Bryant was also out of the competition in the Top32, after a battle against local driver Kristian Szili. Zoltan Marton’s Mustang was facing serious mechanical issues, and it did not cause any problems to reigning champion Adam Kerenyi, who was now moving on to the Top16. Ivan Demirev has had a long break from the ProSeries, and Csaba Simon took advantage of that, winning their battle in two runs. Although Arpad Enekes was driving really well throughout the weekend, Zsolt Zalabai was really going for it in their battle, and in the end he would be the one to progress to the next stage. Aleksandr Grinchuk was showing signs of getting back in the game, as he took out Nagy Robert and his new Toyota Soarer. Calin Ciortan was driving really aggressive in his Turbocharged M3 E30 all weekend long, and there was not much Domonkos Dely could do to stop him in his tracks. Manuel Vacca seemed to be slightly slower this weekend in Tokol than he was in Austria, and with Norbert Kovacik being extremely commited to better his current series standings, it would be him to take the win, and move on to the Top16. Francesco Conti managed to secure his first battle victory in the new Nissan RPS13, against local driver Norbert Szasz, while Toni Arakaki could not do much to prevent the vicious attacks coming from Hungarian driver Szilveszter Gyorgy, who was also putting on an exceptional performance throughout the weekend.
Moving on to the Top16, Karolina Pilarczyk would now face the difficult mission of driving against the top qualifier of the weekend, Amerigo Monteverde. Both driving similar machines, LS powered S chassis, with Karolina also making use of a supercharger, but with Amerigo having much more experience in the ProSeries, the battle between the two was decided in two runs. Due to a major mistake by Karolina on the first run, it would be Amerigo to advance to the Top8. Although becoming better and better every year, and with a new spectacular car at hand, Cristiano Monteverde still lacks the experience necessary to take on the top King of Europe drivers, such as Alois Pamper. We’re sure we’ll be seeing more of the young Italian in the years to come, but until then, it was the Austrian Dotz Drift Team driver that won the battle and moved on to the Top8. Zango Zoltan’s luck was about to come to an end, as the ultra fast Smideliusz Balint took him out of the race in just two runs. Alex Graff showed no flaws in his tandem against local driver Kristian Szili, and much to the joy of his fans, friends of family, he was moving on to the next stage. There was no stopping for Adam Kerenyi either, who just swung by his Top16 opponent Csaba Simon, while preparing for a bigger result for the weekend. Alexandr Grinchuk’s adventure at round 5 of the ProSeries would come to an end after going against Zsolt Zalabai in the LSX powered BMW E30. While Norbert Kovacik’s expectations of taking the championship lead were shattered by Calin Ciortan in the Top16, Szilveszter Gyorgy automatically advanced to the Top8, as Francesco Conti could not come to the start line
after a mechanical issue caused by his crash in the Top32. Up next, Amerigo Monteverde would avenge his son’s defeat in the Top16, by taking out Alois Pamper in the Top8. With Balint Smideliusz suffering a mechanical failure just before the Top8, Alex Graff would automatically advance to the semifinals. End of the weekend for Hungarian Zsolt Zalabai as well, after an intense battle with Adam Kerenyi. After taking out Norbert Kovacik, Calin Ciortan managed the spectacular performance of eliminating Szilveszter Gyorgy from the race as well, which meant Adam Frank would still preserve the championship lead.
The first semifinal was fought between Amerigo Monteverde and Alex Graff. Amerigo has been an active BMW drifter since day 1, but with him switching to a Nissan SChassis, he has revelead his true potential indeed. He won both runs against the German driver BMW E92, and so he was moving on to his second final battle of the season. The other semifinal would go on between Adam Kerenyi and Calin Ciortan. As Adam Frank is always engaging in intense battles against Steve Biagioni, the relationship between Calin Ciortan and Adam Kerenyi is kind of similar. They have been engaging in battle many times throughout the past 6 years of competition, and the results have mostly been in Adam Kerenyi’s favor. While Calin did manage to win against Adam a few times, including at the race in Slovakia, Piestany, 2012, this time the situation would not be in the Romanian’s favor, as Adam was keen to get back on top of the rankings, so as to prepare his attack for the second half of the season. The battle for third would be fought between Alex Graff and Calin Ciortan. After taking out two opponents with more than 600 horsepower each, both running extremely fast machines, Calin Ciortan forgot to weigh in his opponent in the small final. While Alex Graff is a fast driver himself, the heavy E92 was only putting out about 450 horsepower,
which made it slightly slower than Calin’s previous opponents. Going in hard into turn 1, Calin realised this too late, and had to abort his entry, while giving Alex Graff a slight bump, causing them both to spin. Calin got out of his car and , in a fair-play manner apologised to Alex, while congratulating him for getting 3rd place , his first ever King of Europe Drift ProSeries podium.
In the final battle of the weekend, everyone was excited to see how things would turn out. While Adam Kerenyi had just won the event at Lydden Hill some weeks ago, Amerigo Monteverde has yet to win a King of Europe event in his career. Leading for the first run, the Italian driver got a small advantage, by winning 6-4. On his chase run, he
pushed a little too hard, and in the end, the judges decided to mark his run with 0, leaving Adam Kerenyi once again standing on top of the podium, for the second consecutive time this season. The team award for the weekend went to the Dotz Drift Team, composed of Adam Kerenyi, Alois Pamper and Karolina Pilarczyk. Heading towards the last 3 races of the 11th season of Monster Energy King of Europe Drift ProSeries, Adam Frank has retained his championship lead, with a total of 413 points, exactly 30 points more than Szilveszter Gyorgy who is second. Norbert Kovacik is just 4 points away from Szilveszter, while Adam Kerenyi is a little further behind sitting at 350 points. Missing out on two events this year, Amerigo Monteverde has got less than 300 points, with a total of 289, with Calin Ciortan at 229, just 8 points ahead of Patrick Ritzmann and Steve Biaggioni.
Rounds 6 and 7 of the Monster Energy King of Europe Drift ProSeries will be held in Valencia, Spain, on the 19th and 20th of September. Having 2 races in the same weekend means the drivers will be facing a lot of stress, as will their cars, so Spain might just provide the decisive strike for anyone looking to get their hands on the 2015 Championship title.